Politics
NYESOM Wike, governor of Rivers State, has defended his decision to dissolve his cabinet, saying “there is nothing wrong with that.”
Wike spoke about the move and other issues including the ongoing nationwide strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities during an interview with Channels Television.
“One problem Nigerians must always understand is that the tenure of your appointment is decided by the Chief Executive, the person, who appointed you,” said Wike who sacked members of his cabinet on June 24.
According to him, only those whose tenures are fixed constitutionally can afford to believe otherwise.
Two months after, the governor is yet to appoint new commissioners and does not believe it has impeded governance.
The governor, who denied taking decisions all by himself, said: “It is not possible for me to do all by myself, you have permanent secretaries.”
Asked if the permanent secretaries have become his cabinet, he said: “No. You see, the way it is, there are certain decisions that you have to call the permanent secretaries (for). Mind you too, there is the attorney-general, who is a member of the state executive council, you have the Secretary to the State Government, who is a member of the council, you have the head of service, who is a member of the executive council, you have the Chief of Staff who is a member of the executive council.
“So, it is not as if, totally, there is no executive council. Sometimes, you also invite some key ministries – the permanent secretaries – to be also involved.”
Having dissolved the council, the governor believes he now has the opportunity to get things right and appoint the right people as commissioners, away from the pressures that come with being newly sworn into office.
He also did not rule out the return of some of the commissioners that he fired.
Governor Wike said, “You know that sometimes when you come into government, there is a lot of pressure. As you are sworn in, there will be a lot of pressure; people under political circumstances, some people will say well, in terms of technocrats… There are pressures.
“So, you may have made mistakes that you intend to correct. And you look at developments and their performances; have they been able to meet up? Or you think that this person may not be fit for this particular ministry; let me see whether I can send this person to the other ministry. Dissolving them is not their offence. Some of them may come back. Some of them may not be in the particular ministry where they were before. That is the entire process.”
The governor had fired all commissioners a day after one of them resigned and there have been claims that he dissolved his cabinet to prevent more commissioners from quitting on him.
But the governor dismissed the claims, saying, “There is nothing you do that people will not read meanings (into); even when you don’t wake up on time. People will read meaning and say, ‘why did he not wake up by this time?”
– Aug 26, 2017 @ 7:58 GMT /
Tags: Governor Nyesom Wike
